THE PENDULUM
PAGE 411 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011
Successful blood drive at Elon vital to Red Cross
NEWS
Hannah DelaCourt
Reporter
Elon University held the
second of its three annual
blood drives Wednesday, Jan.
12. There is a constant need
for blood donations to save
the lives of accident victims,
cancer patients, premature
babies and others.
“There are a number of
reasons why someone would
arrive at a hospital needing
a pint of blood,” said Andrea
Sjogren, an American Red
Cross donor ’ recruitment
representative. “Yet, there is
only one way to have that pint
on the shelf at the hospital,
and that is from a volunteer
blood donor.”
According to Sjogren,
blood drives at colleges and
universities are essential to
the Red Cross. “We tend to
collect more pints at college
and university blood drives
because the population we
can reach and educate is
larger than, say, a church
or business," Sjogren said.
“Also, young, college-aged
blood donors are a very
important part of our future,
and college is the perfect
place to find and educate this
demographic."
Sophomores Hannah
Nelson and Dionne Richardson
were the Elon Volunteers co
coordinators of the second
annual blood drive. Nelson
agreed that it is important to
hold blood drives at colleges.
“If (students) start giving
blood now, they can make it a
lifetime habit,” she said.
Students who have donated
in Elon blood drives agree that
giving blood is important.
“1 think it’s important for
everyone to give blood because
it’s a resource that everyone
has, and it doesn’t affect
you to give it up," freshman
Chandler Machemehl said.
Sophomore Lauren Culy
said she gives blood to help
more than one person. “Each
person’s donation saves
more than one life,” she
said. ’’The effect of giving is
magnified."
Students also say it is an
easy way to help others.
“I think it is something
small that you can do, and
It makes a big difference,”
freshman Callan Spicher
said.
The American Red Cross
is continually working on
better ways to market to the
college-aged donor base, but
they often use the tools that
the campus already has,
Sjogren said. Elon Volunteers
promoted the blood drive
with posters, Facebook pages
and a sign-up table in Moseley
Center. Fraternity Kappa
Alpha and sorority Sigma
Sigma Sigma also helped co
sponsor the blood drive.
The American Red Cross
helps set a goal for each blood
drive. The goal for this blood
drive was 103 pints. Nelson
said that Elon never really has
a problem reaching its goal,
but because of inclement
weather and delayed classes,
some people were not able to
make their appointments.
Ninety-seven people
signed in at this blood drive,
including 28 first-time
donors, but there were only
Over 120 people signed up to donate blood In
80 usable pints of blood. Even
though the goal was not met,
Nelson said she still believes
this drive was a success.
“We had over 120 people
signed up to donate blood,
so we believe that with walk-
ins, we would have exceeded
our goal, had the weather
allowed,” Nelson said. “Our
promotion and sign-up system
TRACY RAETZ | Staff Photographer
the days proceeding the Elon drive.
with the co-sponsors Kappa
Alpha and Sigma Sigma
Sigma were very successful,
and we still look positively at
this drive. (Sjogren) was very
thankful we were able to get
the 80 pints that we did, as
many recent drives had to be
canceled due to the weather.”
Elon’s final blood drive
will be held on April 6.
Elon selected to participate in pilot assessment program
Derek Wickham
Reporter
Elon University has been selected to
participate in the Excellent Practice in
Student Learning Assessment (EPSLA)
a program designed to study whether
students are actually achieving the
learning objectives that colleges claim
they will meet.
The pilot was hosted by the New
Leadership Alliance for Student
Learning and Accountability, a recently
formed agency looking for ways to
improve higher education.
We’re looking to make something
like a LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) certification in
education,” said David Paris, executive
director for the New Leadership
Alliance. “LEED changed building
practices by certifying people to
do things in a way that helped the
environment. We want to do the same
here by accessing student learning and
improving graduate education."
To be certified by this program,
colleges would have to demonstrate a
very high standard in education. They
would have to show clear education
goals, and a long history of students
meeting those goals.
“Education is changing," said Mary
Wise, associate vice president for
academic affairs. “For a long time we
said ‘here’s what you will do.’ That has
changed to ‘here is what students will
learn.’”
Instead of listing assignments,
professors are now starting to explain
what kinds of skill sets students will
have after leaving the classroom. Wise
said this would aid prospective students
in their search for colleges. Students
wnuJd bo able to pinpoint their specific
desired learning outcomes and explore
colleges that offer them.
“This helps colleges and universities
make the big picture clear,” Wise said.
“We have 10 outcomes we want students
to come out of our program with."
According to Wise, these goals
include having effective writing and
speaking skills, complex reasoning
skills, the capacity for ethical decision
making and the ability to view issues
from other cultural perspectives. These
goals are in addition to any majors and
minors that students would complete
during their time at Elon.
Several schools across the country
were selected to participate in the
pilot, including Capella University, the
University of Central Florida and the
United States Naval Academy.
“We wanted a representative sample
of colleges throughout America,”
Paris said. “We had one for profit, one
military, some community colleges,
public and private universities. Elon fell
into the private sector. We also wanted
institutions that were interested in
gathering information on student
learning and finding out how students
are coming out with it. One of our
advisers on the board offered Elon (as
an option)."
The goal for the EPSLA pilot was
not to certify a college. Instead, the
New Leadership Alliance used the
information gathered to refine the
program.
“This program was to help us make
reasonable judgments," Paris said.
“It was to help provide guidance to
help schools to look at what they are
doing and to get evidence of student
learning.”
The New Leadership Alliance would
use that information to amend the
process. These changes would help
develop the pilot into a program that
can accurately judge if a college is
giving students clear educational goals
and skill sets. Further information on
how the program will change following
the pilot is not yet available, as the
information from the pilot was just
submitted in December. Changes to the
program are still being considered.
“We are going to revise the forms
and host a mini-pilot in the spring,”
Paris said. “We hope to announce that
schools can apply to be certified in the
summer.”
Certification would show that
schools have clear educational goals,
and students know exactly what they
will learn at that university. It would
also hold universities accountable
for providing students with a higher
standard in education. The exact
guidelines regarding preparation
for certification have not yet been
finished.
“The New Alliance provides
questions for schools to look at," Wise
said. “To make sure that students will
actually leave with the skills that the
universities say they should."
Periclean Scholars use grant to promote environmental advocacy
Kyra Gemberling
Design Intern
As the Periclean Scholars Class of
2011 travels to Sri Lanka during Winter
Term to promote global outreach, they
will also use their recent grant from the
Park Foundation, a leading American
scholarship program, to support Sri
Lankan environmental sustainability.
The scholars were awarded the
$12,300 grant in December to support
their investigation of environmental
issues in the country and to generate a
quality media product to reflect their
research.
The group will use the money for a
variety of purposes, but mainly for the
production of a documentary with an
environmental focus.
“(The money) goes toward travel to
and accommodations in Sri Lanka,”
said Tom Arcaro, director of Project
Pericles. “Also, equipment is expensive,
so the other part will be production
costs (for the documentary), from
duplicating the DVD, hard drives and
so on.”
Arcaro said the documentary will
most likely focus on environmental
issues associated with water and
will reflect the themes of the LEAF
Summit that the scholars will attend,
which examines the tension between
environmental stewardship and
CONFIRMED FILMING I
LOCATIONS
• Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery: charting the j
changing habitats of aquatic wildlife 1
• Kanneliya Forest: looking at deforestation I
soil erosion, and its pollution impact on
water bodies and resources
• Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage; in water
terrestrial wildlife
• Panangela School; a segment on
environmental education and stewardship |
in the younger generations in Sri Lanka I
• Temple of the Tooth; a look into the
religious symbolism and Importance of
water and the environment in Sri Lankan
life
• LEAF Summit: footage of keynote speakers
addressing environmental issues
^leaf
SARAH BETH COSTELLO [ Graphics Editor
economic development.
“Charles Smith, one of the authors
of the grant, has expertise in water,
so it will probably focus on water and
access to water, purity of water, and
water pollution," Arcaro said.
Senior Will Lyle, a member of the
Periclean Scholars Class of 2011, said
the documentary will also focus on
how Sri Lanka is rebuilding itself
in environmentally sustainable
ways after the country’s 26-year
civil war ended in 2009. The war
caused significant hardships for the
population, environment and economy
of Sri Lanka.
“(The documentary) is being used to
raise awareness, and for fundraising
and for helping our partner projects in
Sri Lanka," Lyle said.
Lyle said junior Jack Dodson, who is
a multimedia editor for The Pendulum,
and seniors Jesse Lee and Chas Smith
are working on the film. He estimates
that it will be completed in three to six
months.
The students who are working on it
will be filming during the summit,” Lyle
said. “They might be showing portions
of the unedited film, though.”
The documentary will incorporate
footage from the conference and will
include sound bites to support the
narrative.
“The documentary team has been
working on the narrative arc,” Arcaro
said. “The script is extraordinarily
important ... we have a lot of expertise
for a documentary that will be useful
inside the walls of Elon and outside
our walls, as well.”
This is the fourth time the Periclean
Scholars program has received grants
from the Park Foundation, and each
one has been used for the production
of a documentary.
According to the foundation’s
website, their mission is to support
scholarships in higher education,
quality media that heightens awareness
of critical issues and the protection of
the environment.
The foundation also supports
raising public awareness specifically
about freshwater issues.
Junior Annie Huth, member of the
Periclean Scholars Class of 2012, hopes
to undertake similar pursuits during
her class’ trip to India next year.
“Our class is very excited about the
summit the 2011’s are holding, and we
have begun to discuss the possibility
of planning a public health summit for
Winter Term 2012 in Pune or Mumbai,”
Huth said.
The class of 2012 also hopes
to receive funding from tie Park
Foundation in order to make the
most of their experience in global
stewardship.
"In order to fund future v»ork in
India, we will certainly apply for
grants from the Park and Redwood
Foundations, as well as seek out other
sources interested in fundin{ our
partnership,” Huth said.